Slashdot Mirror

This seems similar to the InfraGard initiative, but standard operating procedure dictates our government must form another organization to oversee the preexisting organization that is involved the current organizations et al. Recursive agencies cost us money, and while I do advocate heavier infrastucture protection, hopefully this isn't just another bean-counting expenditure, but instead an operation that actually contributes to our infrastructure security.

All of us that have been gainfully employed for being able to actually work in IT would become modern day partisans in any such event. It would be a rare opportunity to do our worst to other people's systems with the full knowledge of what has unintentionally brought us pain for years. That said, unlike common partisans we do think for ourselves. Many of us would need to be convinced that we were indeed on the side of what we consider good before we took an offensive approach.

Have you heard of Infragard?

.everyone gets sexually self conscious doesnt get laid , doesn't masturbate and thus is in bad mood

Right. But instead of channeling that rage toward WoW as Eldavojohn jokinly pointed out, that collective anger can be manipulated and directed towards the enemy-of-the-day, even if it is the people themselves. You will have hordes of people, full of self-loathing due to their discord between their urges and their society, who will take out their frustrations hacking foreign governments and ratting out remaining porn sources.

Same thing already happens in America, in the form of official and unofficial snitch patrols like Perverted-justice and Infraguard and other "citizen on patrol" neighborhood watch groups who are overwhelmingly conservative Christian anti-gay anti-commie etc, though their hidden shame and frustration is much more voluntary than that of the Chinese.

http://www.infragard.net/

"InfraGard is an information sharing and analysis effort serving the interests and combining the knowledge base of a wide range of members. At its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the FBI and the private sector. InfraGard is an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States. InfraGard Chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office territories. Each InfraGard Chapter has an FBI Special Agent Coordinator assigned to it, and the FBI Coordinator works closely with Supervisory Special Agent Program Managers in the Cyber Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

While under the direction of NIPC, the focus of InfraGard was cyber infrastructure protection. After September 11, 2001 NIPC expanded its efforts to include physical as well as cyber threats to critical infrastructures. InfraGard’s mission expanded accordingly."

You should get to know your local FBI agents, you will get a better feel for the cases they work. you might change your opinion when you see the variety of different cases they pursue. Join a local chapter of Infragard so you can become informed. Most interesting are the sessions where they break down a case from beginning to end, explaining how and why they got involved, the course of the investigation, and how they closed the case. FBI Agent even have a pretty good sense of humor believe it or not..

Here in Cleveland they DO go after political corruption (The number of local raids this year has been astonishing), Child porn, Computer based Crimes, the list goes on and on.. The decision to accept or not accept a case is sometimes determined by the Financial losses incurred, Of course that criteria would not apply to all types of crimes.

I hope you aren't basing your opinion off of how the FBI is portrayed on television and in the movies. If so then maybe you believe Wolverine is a real person too...

don't forget the Empires Ruling Elite .. it's coming fast and sheeple still sleep ..

a couple of links ..

http://infowars.net/articles/april2008/180408impact.htm

http://www.progressive.org/mag_rothschild0308

Matt Rothschild on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDX0CuuRYDI

http://www.infragard.net/

It's just those conspiracy nuts ..

When in simple fact in order for there to be a Conspiracy .. all that is required is that there be a preconceived plan .. nothing more ..

Cyberstalking law opens debate on what's annoying Now how many of you have already forgotten this? The law makes it a crime to anonymously "annoy, abuse, threaten or harass" another person over the Internet. Oh that's right it was two years ago. Perhaps now you should be concerned about Infragard and deadly force. No, 99% of you sit on your ass doing nothing, someone else will fix the government for you. Oh wait, there's that small problem with the FISA law and telcom immunity.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of attending a "CEO's dinner" at a regional tech trade show. (I'm not a CEO, I just happened to work for the meetings major sponsor.) The majority of attendees were the type of people who wear very expensive watches and attend regional tech conferences and use words like "synergy" a lot.

The keynote speech was given by an FBI special agent, and was about cybercrime (I hate that word). He talked about where major risks came from, talked up InfraGard a bit, and generally gave common sense advice to the CEO types there. I remember thinking, "This guy can't really be a computer security expert, can he?"

At one point, I zoned out, and when I tuned back in I thought he was using a Latino name repeatedly in a context I didn't understand. So I glanced up at his powerpoint slide, then back at him, and then back at the slide, until I made the connection.

He was talking about "warez," but he was pronouncing it "Juarez."

I found it very hard to take him seriously after that.

So you're saying that fixing the problem we've run into at least twice now is Monday morning quarterbacking? This isn't a hindsight issue. Key people had very specific information including timing of a terrorist threat in the process of happening. There you go, you have your minority report.

I'm curious if you're just trolling or what your actual point is. Are you saying an email to the local Infragard rep for New York would not have prevented 9/11? To me that would have escalated very quickly if communication lines were open. This was a credible threat that went unreported before it was too late. This was all in the report. Just like Pearl Harbor, all the pieces were there to prevent it but they couldn't talk. In the case of Pearl Harbor technology could have sped up the process. There was no excuse for 9/11 as communication is instant now even if you're in the middle of the ocean. Here is the Infragard Site.

I'm sorry you think there is no way to tell if something bad is coming. I guess you think the CIA and NSA don't do anything. I almost didn't respond because of your reference to telling the future because your stance is completely absurd. There is also a mountain of evidence which we can see in hindsight was available. The problem was the road blocks in place. Additional spying is not going to solve this problem. I don't care how accurate CIA intelligence is if we can't act on the information. That's the whole point of it!

I attended an IT conference a couple of years ago which was organized by my old boss, which meant I was able to get into the CEO roundtable dinner. The speaker at the dinner was an FBI agent who specialized in issues of computer crime. He was mostly there flogging Infragard, and trying to persuade the attendees that should they be the victim of a hack, they should call their local FBI field office.

During his presentation, he repeatedly pronounced the word "warez" as "Juarez."

The FBI has some really talented folks working for them, and for all I know, this guy could have been very bright. But the thing I remember most from that evening was me and my friend snickering at each other and trying to figure out why hackers were apparently trading Latinos.

Operators of major anti-spam systems might join InfraGard, the HHS/FBI "outreach program" for infrastructure operators. Get anti-spam systems recognized as key parts of the telecommunications infrastructure. Meet FBI types.

(thanks to the poster in the alleged HTTP Trace vulnerability), and I think it's funny that the government's Infragard website was inaccessible (at least from the West Coast) for several hours.

The best and free (as in beer with InfraGard) resources is to hookup with your local InfraGard chapter. It's sponsored by the FBI so you get good info, and being a member is free (as in beer) and you get really great security updates and e-mails delivered daily.

For HTCIA (HighTech Crime Investigation Association), the atmosphere is similar as there is a lot of info-sharing between HTCIA and InfraGard. HTCIA does require annual dues and per-meeting dues (self-sponsored organization).

You can visit InfraGard's main site to see where you and your local chapter are. Then find the next meeting time and follow any applicable directions to get there and show up! I'm a member of our local chapter, and we welcome anyone and everyone dealing with InfoSec, Technology, and general Security. InfraGard is a bit more popular due to the local law enforcement participation (at least in our chapter). Our local chapter is here for anyone in the North Carolina RTP area.

If you can't tell I'm a big proponent of ISS. But then again I'm also a student at GA Tech! Not a big fan of their BlackICE product but a big fan of their R&D and Corp Security Audit abilities. You may want to also check out your "local" chapter of Infragard and ISSA. These are both very reputable INFOSEC SIGs with members who are actively involved in INFOSEC issues of all varieties.